The Chicago Bulls are lacking.
The Chicago Bulls are lacking in the middle, where an aging Nikola Vucevic is tops on their depth chart, followed by the solid-but-unspectacular Zach Collins and the underperforming Jalen Smith.
The Chicago Bulls are lacking at the four spot, where Patrick Williams is, um, Patrick Williams.
And the Chicago Bulls are lacking at the shooting guard position, where overpaid non-needle-mover Kevin Huerter has set up shop.
But one place the Bulls are A-okay is at point guard.
You’re looking at budding star Josh Giddey (assuming, as reported, that the restricted free agent re-signs with Chicago), and fan-favorite-slash-energy-guy Ayo Dosunmu, and, in Tre Jones, a skilled youngster who could start on about one-fourth of the teams in the Association.
You’ve also got Coby White.
The 25-year-old White finished second in voting for the 2023-24 Most Improved Player award, and justifiably so, considering that A) He missed all but nine games of the 2022-23 season, B) His leap in averages was bonkers, to the tune of +6.4 points, +2.2 assists, and +1.5 rebounds.
Last season, he had an uptick in points (+1.3), but otherwise statistically stagnated—but considering Chicago’s imbalanced roster and the oddball coaching style of Billy Donovan, it would’ve been difficult for anybody to fully thrive in the Bulls offense scheme.
In the right situation—which Chicago, what with their plethora of guards and blah player development department isn’t—the former Tar Heel has All-Star potential. And that potential could be realized with a team that boasts among the finest infrastructures in the NBA: the Miami Heat.
All of which is why a three-team trade like this could be a thing:
Chicago Bulls receive:
Miami Heat receive:
Toronto Raptors receive
(Note: The trade works under the salary cap, as per ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine.)
The Bulls would (or at least should) pull the trigger on this deal for four simple, logical reasons:
Miami gets three benefits of their own:
Toronto also comes out of the deal with a trio of plusses:
Naturally, all three of these team’s fanbase will kvetch about this one—Herro’s a legit alpha! White’s potential is barely tapped! Barnes is already a star!—but sometimes you have to lose a stud to gain a stud.
